Trump Advisor Paul Manafort’s Hamptons Problem

If former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is convicted of having used overseas shell companies to funnel money toward the purchase of luxury goods—he has been indicted along with associate Rich Gates, both of whom have pleaded not guilty—these goods may be subject to forfeiture.

The indictment lists properties he would have to forfeit, and among them is the 2.37-acre lot at 174 Jobs Lane in Bridgehampton, just off Ocean Road. The lot includes a 5,574-square-foot single-family residence with 10 bedrooms and 6 baths, a swimming pool, tennis court and a half basketball court. A moat in the front yard surrounds a small island with plantings (a footbridge goes to it). There’s statuary and a guesthouse. The assessed value is $1.9 million.

Among the alleged payments sent out by the shell companies for Manafort, according to the indictment, were those for “expenses” that included $5.4 million to a Hampton home improvement company, and more than $820,000 paid to two Hamptons landscapers between 2008 and 2014.

Other properties include a $1.5 million, 2,150-square-foot loft at 29 Howard Street in Manhattan; a suburban home in Arlington, Virginia (for which he paid a reported $1.9 million); and a brownstone at 377 Union Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn valued at $3 million.

And other expenses, according to the FBI, went to a rug store in Alexandria, Virginia ($934,350), and a clothing store in Beverly Hills ($520,440).

This supposed “laundering” took place with money allegedly given to Manafort for American lobbying services by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, which the FBI says Manafort neither noted on his income taxes nor mentioned when he applied for security clearance in 2016, swearing he did not do any work for any foreign power. This former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is a friend of Vladimir Putin and supporter of Russia, he was overthrown in a relatively peaceful revolution five years ago by new leadership that wanted closer ties with the west. (What they got was an invasion from Russia, still ongoing.)

I wonder if all these charges would be hitting Manafort over the head today if he had not taken the job with the Trump campaign between March and August of 2016.